Vibratory conveyer



Patented Dec. 26, 1950 VIBRATORY CONVEYER Lee Devol, West Hartford, Conn., minor to Anthracite Equipment Corporation, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Original application July 13, 1945, Serial No.

Divided and this application August 24, 1948, Serial No. 45,925

'7 Claims.

Thepresent invention relates to conveyors and more particularly to a vibratory type of conveyor, the application being a division of United States Letters Patent No. 2,464,216, issued March 15, 1949.

In equipment heretofore available. it has been the practice to vibrate a surface on which the material rests at relatively high frequency and low amplitude. The surface to be vibrated is in the form of a chute arranged horizontally, or in some instances at an angle not exceeding fifteen degrees. while for steeper slopes this type of conveyor has been found impractical. The industry recognizes this handicap and has been seeking and demanding a conveyor capable of conveying material vertically by vibration.

Some of the objects of the present invention are: to provide an improved vibratory conveyor for material; to provide means for conveying material vertically by vibration; to provide a conveyor actuated by a combined linear vibration and angular vibration, to cause material to move in a circular or helical path; to provide a vertically disposed conveyor comprising a tube and ramp subject to continuous vibration, wherein all portions of the tube regardless of its length are substantially in phase; and to provide other improvements as will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig, 1 represents a sectional elevation of a conveyor embodying one form of the present invention; Fig. 2 represents a section on line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 represents a perspective detail of one form of energizing magnet and its armature; Fig. 4 represents a perspective of a modified form of magnet; Fig. 5 represents a fragmentary elevation of a conveyor tube showing a form of supplemental springs for maintaining vibrations in phase throughout the length of the tube; Fig. 6 represents a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 5; Fig. 7 represents a plan of a modified form of the invention; and Fig. 8 represents a detail showing another modification.

Referring to the drawings, one form of the present invention comprises a vertically mounted cylindrical tube l0 having an inlet ll adjacent the of the ramp ll are welded or'otherwise made fast to the inner wall of the tube I 0, while the inner edges thereof are formed with a continuous, relinclined and serves to prevent the material from falling back through the axial opening of the ramp M.

In order to cause the material to travel upward along the ramp H, the tube I0 is mounted upon a plurality of spring members i6 extending respectively between blocks l1 and it, the former, ll, bein fixed to a base 20 and the latter, ll, being attached to the exterior of the tube Ill. As shown, there are four of these spring members l6 spaced ninety degrees apart about the periphcry of the tube l0, and angularly disposed at approximately forty-five degrees to the base 20, so that the effective force of the spring members is not only to return the tube upwardly after being lowered, but also to exert a torque in the direction to throw the material clockwise along the ramp.

For pulling the tube Ill downward against the spring tension and thereby with the action of the spring members impart a vibration to the tube, an electro-magnet 2| is mounted upon the base 20 in close operative proximity to an armature 22 fixed to the bottom of the tube It, and is energized in the present instance by a sixty cycle voltage from a suitable source of alternating current by way of a rectifier 23. This rectifier 23 serves to eliminate alternate half waves of the sixty cycle current, thus giving a strong magnetic field sixty time per second with intermediate intervals when the field is negligible. The resuitant vibrating force will be very much greater than it would be without the rectifier.

From the foregoing and by reason of the angularity of the spring members IE, it will be evident that each time the tube I 0 is pulled down by the magnet 21 the front of the tube Ill, which is supported by the front block l8, will move to the right. while the back of the tube I ll, which is supported by the back block it, will move to the left, so that the motion of the tube 10 is simultaneously downward and counter-clockwise as viewed from the top. The restoring movement by the spring memberaction will be upward and clockwise. This latter motion will serve to cause the material to travel upward along the ramp I 4 in a clockwise direction each time this motion occurs.

In Fig.4 of the drawings, a modified, form of the invention comprises an eiectro-magnet 34 and a permanent magnet 25 having common poles, which latter are arranged in juxtaposed In order to overcome this situation, one form of slope of the ramp, at its inner edge may be ten or fifteen degrees when handling almost any granular material, and for many materials it may be a great deal steeper than this. The slope. however, may also have any desired lower value, and it may be downward at any angle up to the angle of repose of the material.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A material conveying system, comprising the combination of a substantially vertically disposed tube having an inlet opening and an outlet the invention comprises the construction shownfixed to the tube In near the top thereof, and at the other or free end to comparatively heavy weights 2.. The natural frequency of vibration of these weights 28 is very much lower than the frequency of operation of the system. As the tube In moves downward, the weights 28 are given an impulse in a clockwise direction looking downward on the tube and in return give an impulse in a counter-clockwise direction to the tube. Thus. to a degree of approximation, these weights 28, which are entirely supported by the springs, act like rigid supports and serve to keep the iongitudinal and tangential components of the vibration substantially in phase.

In the modification of Fig. 7, the top of the tube In is provided with a centrally disposed post Ill connected to steel wires 3|, three being shown by way of example, which are respectively connected to fixed or rigid supports 32. The wires 3i are angularly disposed with respect to each other to exert substantially equal radial restraining means for the tube, and function to prevent sidewise motion in any direction.

In Fig. 8 a modification of the means for giving the tube 10 its down and angular motion is shown wherein a crank arm 33, keyed to a driven shaft 34, is attached to the bottom of the tube ID by means of a relatively weak spring 35. As the crank arm 33 rotates, a succession of pulls of the spring will give the desired vibratory motion to the tube l0. By varying the eccentricity of the crank arm 33 and the stiffness of the spring 35, the amplitude of vibration, and therefore the rate of handling of material, can be varied at .will over a very wide range.

. It'will now be apparent that a complete unitary "conveying system for material has been devised suitable for handling almost any material in the form of small grains, larger granules, or lumps,

including, for example, such things as sand, coal, ashes, salt or sugar, slate, and bone. It will also c0nvey' many natural products, such as string beans, maize or barley.

In operation, the alternate action of the electro-magnet or other means with the restoring spring action causes the tube to vibrate linearly and angularly to the axis of the tube with the result that the material is caused to flow upward along the ramp in a clockwise direction and thus travels round and round the helical ramp until discharged at the outlet l2.

In order to obtain the maximum movement of the tube and ramp with the smallest driving force, the supporting springs l6 should generally be so chosen that the natural vibration frequency of the system is approximately the same as the frequency of the driving current. Also, it should be noted that the amplitude needed will usually be quite small, that is, often of the order of a few thousandths of an inch. The upward openingat different elevations, a ramp between said openings and fixed to said tube for conveying material from one opening to the other, means to imparta helical vibration to said tube to feed. material along said ramp, and means resiliently depending from said tube for maintaining the vibration of said tube in phase throughout the length thereof.

2. A material conveying system, comprising the combination of a substantially vertically disposed tube having an inlet opening and an outlet opening at different elevations, a helical ramp between said openings and fixed to said tube for conveying material from one opening to the other, means for simultaneously imparting linear and angular vibrations to said tube, and spring mounted weights attached to said tube between said openings for maintaining said vibrations in phase.

3. A material conveying system, comprising the combination of a substantially verticallydisposed elongated tube having an inlet at the bottom portion and an outlet above said inlet, a helical ramp attached to and within said tube and communicating at its ends res ectively with said inlet and said outlet, means for oscillating said tube in a helical path of travel, and means resiliently at tached to said tube for maintaining the oscillatory vibrations in phase throughout the length of said tube.

4. In a helical conveyor device, the combination of a vertically disposed helical conveyor member, a plurality of spring means disposed about a common axis and mounted to support and guide said helical conveyor member for reciprocation in a confined inclined arcuate path of movement about said axis, driving means mounted to be effective in imparting energy impulses to said helical conveyor member causing it to reciprocate in its confined path of movement and in synchronism with the frequency of said energy impulses, and weight means resiliently attached to the helical conveyor member in spaced relation to said spring means and free to vibrate relative to the helical conveyor memher to be effective in maintaining uniform reciprocation of the conveyor member throughout its length.

5. In a helical conveyor device, the combination of a vertically disposed helical conveyor member, a plurality of spring means disposed about a common axis and mounted to support and guide said helical conveyor member for reciprocation in a confined inclined arcuate path of movement about said axis, driving means mounted to be effective in imparting energy impulses to said helical conveyor member causing it to reciprocate in its confined path of movement and in synchronism with the frequency of said energy impulses, a second set of spring means attached to the helical conveyor member in axial spaced relation to the first set of spring means, and weights carried by said second set of spring means to be effective to induce uniform reciprocation of the conveyor member throughout its length.

6. In a helical conveyor device, the combination oi a vertically disposed helical conveyor member, a plurality of spring means disposed about a common axis and mounted to support and guide said helical conveyor member for reciprocation in a confined inclined arcuate path of movement about said axis, driving means mounted to be effective in imparting energy impulses to said helical conveyor member causing it to reciprocate in its conflned path of movement and in synchronism with the frequency of said energy impulses, and weight means free to vibrate relative to the helical conveyor member for maintaining uniform reciprocation of the conveyor member throughout its length, said weight means being resiliently at tached to said conveyor member intermediate the length thereof.

7. A material conveying device comprising an inclined conveyor member having an inlet opening and an outlet opening at different elevations for conveying material from one elevation to the other, a base, spring means attached at one end to said base in a horizontal plane and attached at the other end in a horizontal plane to the inclined conveyor member to support the same for vibration at a natural period, driving means mounted to be efiective in imparting energy impulses to the inclined conveyor member causing it to reciprocate in synchronism with the frequency of said energy impulses, a second set of spring means attached to the inclined conveyor member in spaced relation to the support spring means, and weights carried by said second set of spring means which are free to swing and be efiective in inducing uniform reciprocation of the inclined conveyor member throughout its length.

LEE DEVOL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,243,936 Wurzbach et al June 3, 1941 2,374,664 Carrier May 1, 1945 2,464,216 Devol Mar. 15, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 279,119 Great Britain Oct. 15, 1927 

